The Raiders entered the six-team CCCAA state championships Thursday in Saratoga as SoCal’s No. 4 seed and fell 5-0 to top-seeded Long Beach City and 4-1 to NorCal No. 2 Cabrillo in pool play.

Baseball

Behind a pitching staff that led the division in ERA (3.59), the Moorpark College baseball team won the Western State Conference North Division for the first time since 2012 and was seeded No. 6 in the CCCAA Southern California regional playoffs.

Starters Grant Nechak (7-2, 2.44) and Andrew Nardi (6-4, 2.48) led the WSC North in wins and strikeouts, respectively.

The Raiders (26-17) bounced back to from a 1-0 loss in the opener of the best-of-3 series with No. 11 El Camino on Friday to force a decisive third game on Saturday.

Nechak struck out 13 in a 6-1 win in Game 2. Paul Abate was 3 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Mason Harvey and James Terrazas both had two hits.

But Moorpark was eliminated, 9-5, in Game 3, despite two-run singles by Harvey and Terrezas in the first and second innings.

Softball

Behind a lineup that finished fourth in the state in batting average (.385), the Ventura College softball team finished second in the nine-team WSC North and was seeded No. 7 in the CCCAA Southern California regional playoffs.

The Pirates (29-11) bounced back to from a 2-1 loss in the opener of the best-of-3 series with No. 10 Antelope Valley on Friday to force a decisive third game on Saturday.

Arianna Rivas, Anissa Padilla, Celeste Ekman and Brittney Banales had RBI singles in the four-run fifth inning, which lifted the Pirates to a 5-4 win in Game 2.

Herrera and Kakimoto both shot a 4-over-par 148 over two rounds to tie for fifth place overall at the CCCAA SoCal regionals at Bakersfield Country Club on Monday. As a result, both earned All-Southern California honors.

VC finished in fifth as a team, missing out on the final team berth to state by seven strokes.

The Pirates had finished in second place in the WSC last month, after Herrera won the individual WSC championship at Crystalaire Country Club.

Herrera, a St. Bonaventure High graduate, shot an even-par 144 over 36 holes.

Tennis

The postseason run of the Ventura College men’s tennis team was halted by a 5-0 loss to top-seeded Cerritos, the eventual state champion, in the CCCAA regional final on April 21.

The doubles team of Solal Cherqui and Rafael Dunan came closest to winning their match, falling 8-6, as the Pirates ended their season at 14-2.

In individual competition, WSC singles champion Priyank Soni reached the state singles quarterfinals and Cherqui-Donan reached the state doubles quarterfinals.

Swimming

Ventura College freshman Adrianna Bese set a school record in the 200-yard breaststroke at the CCCAA state swimming championships on Saturday at De Anza College in Cupertino.

Track

At last Saturday’s SoCal Prelims, VC’s Valexia Droughn won her heats in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, breaking the school record in the 100 at 11.75 seconds.

MC’s Paige Johnson qualified for the finals in all five of her events: the 100, 200, 100 hurdles, long jump and high jump.

VC’s Darrell Handy-Johnson, Terrell Handy-Johnson and Kamar Wilson tied for first in high jump qualifying, all clearing 6 feet, 3 inches. Darrell Handy-Johnson also qualified in the long jump and triple jump.